Planning a wedding can be overwhelming and very stressful. But it doesn't have to be. Take a deep breath, relax and enjoy every step of it. First you need to decide if you should hire a wedding planner. You may want to hire a professional wedding planner if...
1. You have little or no free time to coordinate, make phone calls, or do research.
2. You feel completely overwhelmed by the number of choices and decisions to make.
3. You need help with organizing, coordinating and planning your overall wedding plan.
4. You want someone else to deal with the hassles of vendor research, coordinating activities, creating time-lines, hundreds of details and more.
5. You want to have an organized dream wedding but don't have your own list of reliable vendors and resources to pull it all together.
6. You and your significant other can't seem to agree on anything for your wedding.
7. You want some personalization but not sure how to incorporate it into your wedding.
8. You want something different and fabulous.
9. You're tired of buying things for the wedding here and there without an overall plan.
10. You have a vision of your wedding but do not know how to bring it to reality.
If you have answered yes to most of these questions you should consider hiring a wedding planner.
Here are several questions you need to ask wedding planners before hiring them.
1. Do you charge an hourly fee or a flat rate fee?
Avoid wedding planners who charge a hourly fee. It may sound good at first but It could add up to more money than you thought.
2. Do you have different levels of wedding planning?
You should hire a wedding planner who offers different levels of planning. You may want them to do everything for you or you may need just a few things done. In this case you do not want to pay for full wedding planning if you have already taken care of things.
3. Can I hire a wedding day assistant instead of a complete wedding planner.
Some wedding planners offer a wedding day assistant at a fraction of the cost of a full wedding planner. Wedding day assistants are there to help out on the day of your wedding only. This frees up you and your family of dealing with any problems that may arise on your special day. Allowing you and your family to enjoy every moment. Make sure you fill comfortable with your wedding planner. If there is anything you do not like about them, then keep looking for a planner. You need to be able to relate and fill comfortable with the decisions they will be making.
If you decide you do not want to hire a wedding planner and want to do everything yourself, keep these things in mind.
The very first thing you should do is find your reception site. All of your vendors, will need to know the location of your wedding before they can give you a quote on price for there service. Also, reception sites book up fast, so you need to take care of this first. Below are a few questions you may want to ask vendors before hiring them.
Photographer---Do you photograph my wedding from the start to the finish? Some photographers are only there for 3 hours or so. I once did a wedding and the photographer fee was for only 3 hours. When the 3 hours were up he started to pack up to leave and the bride and groom had not even cut the cake yet. He had scheduled another wedding in the evening and would not stay any longer. Choosing a photographer that will be there the entire time is worth the extra money you may have to spend.
Decorator---When hiring a professional decorator ask to see pictures of other weddings they have done. This will help give you some ideas as well as see what there works looks like. Will they return to pick up any rented items after wedding or do you need to return the items to them.
Florist---When you have your first consultation with a florist take along any pictures of flowers, bouquet etc. that you like. This will help the florist to figure out what styles you like. This will also allow her to give you some ideas you may like. Ask your florist if she offers table bouquet clips for your bouquets. These are a great way to display your bouquet and all of your bridesmaids bouquets on the front of your head table. These make your table look great. And best of all, you do not need to spend extra money for flowers for your head table. I will be writing more articles to help you with your special day and make the planning less stressful. Relax, and enjoy every moment of planning your wedding!
